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Submarines of the United States Navy are built in classes, using a single design for a number of boats. Minor variations occur as improvements are incorporated into the design, so later boats of a class may be more capable than earlier. Also, boats are modified, sometimes extensively, while in service, creating departures from the class standard. However, in general, all boats of a class are noticeably similar.
The Sturgeon-class (colloquially in Navy circles, the 637 class) attack submarine (SSN) were the "work horses" of the submarine attack fleet throughout much of the Cold War. They were phased out in the 1990s and early 21st century, as their successors, the Los Angeles, followed by the Seawolf and Virginia class boats, entered service.
They were equipped to carry the Harpoon missile, the Tomahawk cruise missile,and the MK-48 and ADCAP torpedoes. Torpedo tubes were located amidships to accommodate the bow-mounted sonar. The bow covering the sonar sphere was made from poly-carbonate to improve the bow sonar sphere performance though for intelligence gathering missions, the towed-array sonar was normally used as it was much more sensitive array. The sail-mounted dive planes rotate to a vertical position for breaking through the ice when surfacing in Arctic regions.
Several Sturgeon boats were slightly modified from the original designs. Narwhal, which was nearly a sub-class of its own, was completed with an S5G reactor which was cooled using natural convection rather than pumps and did not have reduction gears, but utilized a sophisticated multi-stage turbine in an attempt to reduce the noise footprint from the reduction gears. The turbine arrangement was not considered successful because of its complex warm-up and cooldown procedures.. The Glenard P. Lipscomb was a trials submarine which was completed using a large electric motor for main propulsion rather than direct drive from the steam turbines. The Lipscomb’s trial of electric propulsion was not considered successful due to lack of reliability and she was decommissioned in 1989. The Puffer was outfitted with Raytheon Harmonic Power Conditioners (a.k.a "the cloaking device") which eliminated an electrical bus noise problem that was inherent in the class. This successful prototype was later outfitted on the entire class.
Beginning with Archerfish, units of this class had a 10-foot (3 meter) longer hull, giving them more living and working space than previous submarines. Parche received an additional 100-foot (30 meter) hull extension containing cable tapping equipment that brought her total length to 401 feet (122 m). A number of the long hull Sturgeon-class SSNs, including Parche, Rivers, and Russell were involved in top-secret reconnaissance missions, including cable tap operations in the Barents and Okhotsk seas.
A total of seven boats were modified to carry the SEAL Dry Deck Shelter (DDS). The DDS is a submersible launch hangar with a hyperbaric chamber attached to the ship's weapon shipping hatch. DDS-equipped boats were tasked with the covert insertion of special forces troops.
OC1GUYWI was a submariner assigned to the USS Sturgeon SSN-637.
General Characteristics
Class and type: Attack submarine
Displacement: 3,640 long tons (3,698 t) surfaced, 4,640 long tons (4,714 t) submerged
Length: 292 ft 3 in (89.1 m)
Beam: 31 ft 8 in (9.7 m)
Propulsion: 1 × S5W Pressurized water reactor, 2 × 11.2 MW steam turbines, 1 shaft
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)+ surfaced, 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)+ submerged
Range: Unlimited, except by food supplies
Test depth: 1,320 ft (400 m)
Complement: 107
Armament: 4 × 21 in (533 mm) amidship torpedo tubes with MK-48 and ADCAP torpedoes, plus 15 reloads, and 4 Harpoon missiles or up to 8 Tomahawk missiles, instead of equivalent of number of Torpedoes or Harpoons.
In minelaying configuration: Mark 67 Submarine Launched Mobile Mines and Mark 60 CAPTOR mines instead of torpedoes.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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